An ambitious plan to develop a large central crop storage facility in the East Midlands has moved a step closer, with a £1.5m grant award from the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE), managed in the region by East Midlands Development Agency (emda).

Woldgrain Storage Ltd, a not-for-profit cooperative based near Gainsborough in Lincolnshire, will use the funds to create over 26,000 tonnes of additional crop storage space, taking the total capacity at the site to over 50,000 tonnes. 

The RDPE funding will also enable Woldgrain to improve the facility and incorporate innovative new technology to control the drying, cleaning, sorting and grading of a variety of crops including wheat, oil seed rape and malting barley.  Work will start on site in the coming weeks, and is due to be finished by early 2012.  Once complete, it is hoped that more arable farming businesses from the region will use the state-of-the-art plant house, which is the first of its kind in the East Midlands.  The facility will help farmers maximise their profits by reducing waste and making sure their crops meet the specifications and quality standards expected by processors.

Commenting on the RDPE grant, Richard Milligan-Manby, Chairman of Woldgrain Storage Ltd, said: "We're extremely pleased that emda has recognised the commercial potential of having a more sophisticated crop storage and processing facility in the East Midlands.  This will bring real cost benefits to farmers, because they will receive a better price per tonne for their grain and satisfy contracts they couldn't enter into alone.  It also provides us with a real opportunity to expand our membership and develop an approach which, we hope,will secure a better future for the industry."

He added:  "It will be business as usual whilst the upgrade work gets underway, and I would like to reassure those farmers who use the existing facilities that we will keep disruption to a minimum."    

Andrew Morgan, emda's Skills and Communities Director, commented:  "Research commissioned by emda has highlighted the need for central storage facilities to replace or support individual on-farm storage. The report found that much of the region's on-farm storage units are becoming outdated and may be difficult to upgrade to meet the increasingly strict product quality controls set by purchasers. 

"This is why we are using RDPE money to invest in Woldgrain.  We believe this modern new facility will make a real difference to farmers in the region, helping them add significant value to their crops and improve their bottom line."

RDPE is jointly funded by the European Union (EU) and Department for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra).  emda has approximately £60m available for projects in the region until 2013.  The purpose of RDPE grants is to stimulate the rural economy of the East Midlands and provide more opportunities and an improved quality of life for rural people in the region.  Since the launch of the current RDPE in January 2008, 26 projects have received funding, worth over £4m.  To find out more about RDPE and how to apply, visit www.emda.org.uk/rdpe .

To download the emda / EFFP "Developing and promoting the case for central co-operative combinable crop storage 2006" report, visit www.effp.com/x127.xml .